Teachers, Students, School
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES – PARTICIPATION
Participation in extracurricular activities was construed as a matter of access to learn-ing. We wanted to find out to what extent school-based learning had changed and whether it can be interpreted as an improvement in access to learning. Therefore we analysed the question from the side of staying in school and time spent in three pri-mary school grades. Detailed analysis was conducted for the upper grades only.
As expected, the proportions of students involved in afternoon school in the three grades were vastly different. Spending a long time at school is natural in the lower grades: 80% of 3rd graders spend mornings and afternoons at school and only 20% go home at midday. In grade 5 the rate of stayers and home goers is quite balanced (51%
and 49% respectively). In grade 8 school-based learning outside classes is no longer
Grade 8
Grade 5
Grade 3
Figure 1: Afternoon participation of grade 3, 5 and 8 students, %
I stay at school, in study hall till 4 p.m. every day
I stay at school, in study hall or extracurricular session till 4 p.m. every day I leave school before 4 p.m. once a week
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 26,9
6,8 4,4 12,9 66,7
48,7
10,8 20,1
8,3 9,1
10,3 6,2
8,5 9,9
50,4
I leave school before 4 p.m. several days a week I leave school before 4 p.m. every day
12,8 63,3 5,6 6,7
11,7
significant: only 16% of students stay in school every day and two-thirds (67%-a) never stay (see Figure 1).
The students’ answers reveal massive disparities between the districts in terms of staying in school. In grade 3 the difference is not yet significant: the distribution is around the average with the exception of District M, where a higher proportion of young students are taken home for the afternoon. This is probably related to the family structure, settlement pattern, and a more traditional lifestyle where more educational tasks are naturally undertaken by the family. In grade 5 the approximately fifty-fifty distribution reveals extremely great variation by district. While the overwhelming majority of students in the Budapest district (82%) stay in school in the afternoon, in District M “only” about three-quarters, and in District J only over one-tenth (13%). In grade 8 the difference is not too significant: the largest proportion of students, one-third, stay in school in the afternoon in District M. The lowest proportion of stayers is in District J, and stayers in Budapest are around the average of one-fifth.
Aggreg.
District M
District J
Budapest
Figure 2: Afternoon stayers by district in grade 8, %
I stay at school, in study hall till 4 p.m. every day
I stay at school, in study hall or extracurricular session till 4 p.m. every day I leave school before 4 p.m. once a week
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 I leave school before 4 p.m. several days a week I leave school before 4 p.m. every day
2 2,3
Question asked: Which statement is closest to the truth in your case?
Looking at the pattern of staying in school taking students’ background into con-sideration, there are considerable disparities, again as expected. Two main groups seem to emerge in terms of parental background. More than the average rate of chil-dren of mothers whose educational attainment is secondary school final examination or higher stay away from the school in the afternoon, and even the stayers do not stay in school every afternoon. The other group comprises children whose mothers have vocational training school or lower educational attainment: a quarter of them spend the afternoon in school. The divergences are even greater in the case of students stay-ing for study hall: the largest proportion (20%) are children of mothers whose educa-tional attainment is no higher than primary school (see Figure 3).
Again as expected the pattern of afternoon stay is highly diverse when taking stu-dents’ social background into account. Looking at it by grades and from the angle of the mother’s educational attainment, while in grade 5 the largest proportion of stayers, and particularly study hall students, are those whose mothers have the lowest educa-tional attainment and the rate of stayers whose mother holds a degree is also more than average, by grade 8 children of parents with higher educational attainment peter out, and only students whose parents finished vocational training school or primary school stay often in school in larger numbers. Children of parents with the lowest edu-cational attainment are among the stayers in high proportions in both grades: in grade 5 more than 50%, and in grade 8 one-third of them stay in school.
GRADE 5GRADE 8
Figure 3: Afternoon stayers by the mother’s educational attainment, grades 5 and 8, %
Stays at least 4 days Stays max. 1 day or none Study hall user
p=0.000 p=0.033
As staying in school in the afternoon means predominantly staying for study hall, this is what we primarily focused on in the next part of the research. Study hall has been a long-established supportive framework in primary schools. Its purpose is to help those students with their homework and studies who need support or who stay in school in the afternoon for family reasons. Staying on for study hall is therefore related to students’ record and scholastic achievement: those who stay for study hall have an end-of-year average result of 3.3 compared to 4.1, which is the average of those
0 20,0 40,0 60,0 80,0 100,0
Average Diploma Secondary school leaving examination
Vocational school
others stays at homework club others stays at homework club others stays at homework club
Lower secondary level or lower
120,0
not using study hall. The new regulation expanded this framework, which justifies a closer investigation.
The composition of the 8th grader study hall user population varies by district. In Districts M and B the groups are quite similar: highly heterogeneous and contains all subgroups by the mother’s educational attainment but the rate of mothers with lower educational attainments is higher among study hall users than non-study hall users.
In District J the pattern is different: the overwhelming majority of the few study hall us-ers are children of mothus-ers with the lowest educational attainment, so they constitute a much more homogeneous group.
Looking at the rates of study hall users among children of mothers with the lowest educational attainment also shows substantial differences: their rate is 30% in District M, 36% in District B, and only 9% in District J (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Staying at school in homework club, by mothers’ level of education and school districts, Grade 8 student answers (%)